Thank you Nony!! And thank you to everyone who sent an ask prompt! 💕 This is the last one (and I managed to get them all done in March, which as a surprise! 🎉) I hope you liked them all (I will probably do a little masterpost sometime later ☺️)
And on with the last one, which is again a sad one, I’m afraid!
Merlin eases Arthur from the boat, pulling the limp prince onto his shoulder to carry him into the ruins of the old castle. He finds the altar where he’d met Nimueh, for the first time since he’d done it, wishing he hadn’t killed her.
Carefully setting Arthur down, cradling his head as he lays him on the ground beside the altar, he looks up at the clouds roiling in the sky overhead. They look ready to spew rain all over them, and Merlin is brought back to the last time, when he had sat in this very spot, hugging Gaius in the pouring rain.
He gently pushes the hair back off of Arthur’s deathly pale face, hating to feel how cold his skin is. He lays a hand over the fatal wound in Arthur’s side. But he can fix this, he can bring Arthur back again. It is his destiny to save him.
He presses his lips to Arthur’s forehead, squeezing his eyes shut to stop the tears spilling out. One leaks past his eyelids anyway and drips onto Arthur’s cheek. Merlin brushes it away with his thumb, kissing the spot where it fell.
“I’m sorry, Arthur,” he whispers.
Then he turns, his shaky hand gripping Arthur’s, and looks around the ruins of the castle. His magic can feel a presence, the congregation of power around the area. He hopes that means there is someone here who can help. He tilts his head up, raising his teary eyes upwards and lets his magic fill him.
“Please, help me!” he calls to the sky.
His magic crackles and he jerks his head around. He has the prickly feeling on the back of his neck that someone is watching. His eyes dart back and forth, searching for the presence.
A woman appears beside a tumbled down wall; or rather Merlin suddenly becomes aware of her as if she had always been standing there. She walks towards him through the mist that is swirling around the ground and between the ruins. She has the same air about her as Nimueh did, as Morgause, and Merlin instantly knows she is a High Priestess.
“Help me,” he says again, standing and facing her, regretfully letting Arthur’s limp fingers slide out of his.
A smile spreads over her thin, red-painted lips.
“Hello, young warlock,” she greets pleasantly. She seems to glide across the uneven ground, her red dress swaying as if in a gentle breeze, although the air is still around them.
She bends over Arthur, her fingers tracing his jaw line, then dancing across his chest to the huge wound in his side.
“Your prince will die soon,” she says blandly – not uncaringly, but just as if it is a certain truth, like the leaves falling in autumn.
“No,” Merlin says firmly. “No. He cannot die. I won’t let it happen. That’s why I’m here.”
The priestess looks up at him, her delicate eyebrows lifted. She gives a small questioning hum.
“I need your help,” he says. “I know you can save him.”
“The power of life and death is not so simple as that,” she cautions, her dark eyes fixed on Merlin’s as if she can see into his very mind. “You know this, young warlock. You have been here before.”
Merlin nods, steels himself by looking down at Arthur’s pale face; his eyes closed and his chest barely rising, the blood still staining his chainmail. He gulps and looks back up at the priestess, his jaw set determinedly.
“I know what needs to be done,” he says calmly, much calmer than he feels. “I know the balance needs to be kept. I know it takes a life to save a life.”
“That is indeed correct,” she answers, her head tilts in a nod, her eyes still fixed on Merlin.
“Well, I demand that I may choose the life that is taken.”
“Oh?” The priestess lets out a light musical laugh. “You have someone you wish to sacrifice in order to save your prince?”
“Yes.” Merlin wipes any last traces of tears from his face, straightening his back.
“Whose life would you give away so freely, young warlock?”
Tada! I know this is a nasty cliff hanger… but you know, it’s all about dramatic affect! (Actually it’s because I wasn’t 100% percent sure how to solve this (obviously I wouldn’t let Merlin die) and the only idea I had is an idea that I am already halfway through exploring in a different wip so I didn’t want to use it here!)
Thank you again to everyone who sent in prompts and @whumpster-dumpster for the list!! I shall definitely do something like this again soon! 😁😁
